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Election changes now law (new law)

Absentee voters will no longer have their ballots rejected just because they forget to write the date on the envelope.

The change is included in a new law that makes a handful of mostly minor changes to the state’s election statutes.

Previously, absentee voters’ ballots were not counted if they forgot to write in the date next to their signature on the ballot envelope. Effective June 29, 2012, voters are still required to sign the required oath, but no longer have to write in the date.

Two other provisions are included in the law:

• effective April 28, 2012, banning political party units from punishing non-endorsed candidates from running for office by imposing financial penalties; and

• effective Aug. 1, 2012, making a technical change necessary to accommodate the date for this year’s Republican National Convention.

At one point, a provision was included that would have moved the state’s primary from August to June, but it was removed in conference committee.